Louisiana Purchase Exposition / St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, Extensive Manuscript Archive Involving Thomas Cridler, European Commissioner for the

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• Lot Description
  Lot of approximately 3,000 pieces, mostly letters. Ca 1898-1926 (bulk of materials 1902-1903).
  
  By the fall of 1902 Thomas W. Cridler, Commissioner to Europe for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, had already been in Europe for months painstakingly pursuing the participation of European nations in the much-heralded Saint Louis World’s Fair of 1904. In a letter to a fellow diplomat at the US Consul in Turkey, Cridler wrote, I want to make a success of my mission, and shall omit no opportunity to do so. I want to show my friends that although I spent so many years, and the best years of my life, in the Department of State, I can apply my knowledge to good account in another sphere. It is due them, but infinitely more due to myself and my family…. But, mark my word, I shall go back to the Department after a while, if I live, in a better position. I have some scores to payoff, and I have an excellent memory.
  
  In this extensive manuscript collection of approximately 3,000 pieces, Thomas W. Cridler provides a unique look into not just the challenges he faced securing the participation of European nations at the Fair, but also into the difficulty, diplomacy, and at times the intrigue associated with life as a diplomat. With letters representing 28 foreign countries, and hundreds of ancillary items including photographs, a stamp collection, business cards, telegrams, receipts, handwritten notes, legal documents, postcards, newspaper clippings, speeches, shipping invoices, and a multitude of official World’s Fair publications, this archive is a treasure trove of information relating to the St. Louis World’s Fair and the lives of the American diplomatic corps at the turn of the century.
  
  Thomas Wilbur Cridler (b. 1850 - d. 1914) was born in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. He studied law and on October 1, 1875, was appointed as a clerk at the Department of State. This commenced what would be a lengthy career as a diplomat, rising from clerk to Chief of the Diplomatic Bureau, and ultimately to appointment as Third Assistant Secretary of State on April 8, 1897. While serving as Third Assistant Secretary, Cridler was present for the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 and was appointed by President McKinley to be Special Commissioner to the 1900 Paris Exhibition.
  
  On November 15, 1901, Cridler resigned his post at the Department of State. Little was written in the prominent papers about the reason for this resignation; however, the archive offers two possible explanations. In July 1901 Cridler removed to Seabright, New Jersey, to recover from what he described in a 1902 letter as a severe attack of typhoid fever. Cridler’s letters make multiple mentions of this illness, which by his own account, left him quite ill and caused a significant weight loss. Another possible explanation for his resignation is found in a clipping in the manuscript collection from a Copenhagen newspaper dated January 7, 1903. The accompanying translation of the article states that Jules Blom, former Vice Consul for the US in Copenhagen, resigned after being assaulted in January 1900 by a drunken Consul Ingersoll, and later succeeded in getting Ingersoll removed from Copenhagen and in having his friend Mr. Cridler, Chief for Consular Affairs in the Department of State in Washington, discharged. Regardless of the reason, Cridler did resign as Third Assistant Secretary, and soon was appointed European Commissioner for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, otherwise known as the St. Louis World’s Fair.
  
  The St. Louis World’s Fair was intended to celebrate and commemorate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Like the American expositions that had preceded it - Philadelphia in 1876, Chicago in 1893, and Buffalo in 1901 - the St. Louis World’s Fair demonstrated to a worldwide audience America’s transformation into an industrial powerhouse and expressed America’s pride in her accomplishments. The St. Louis World’s Fair, however, was the grandest of them all, with a size, scope, and ambition that far exceeded its predecessors.
  
  Twice the size of the Chicago Exposition, the St. Louis Exposition covered more than twelve hundred acres and featured fifteen hundred buildings erected specifically for the Fair. According to a promotional pamphlet included in the archive, the World’s Fair in St. Louis was to present a new and important development of the Exposition idea, showing the evolution of the raw materials through all the process of manufacture to the finished product. It will be an Exposition of life, color, motion and demonstration in every part where practicable. In a 1902 Memorandum for His Excellency, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cridler said this of the Exposition: It is not an easy matter to point out the special value of this Exposition, nor to sum up even a few of its many advantages. It will, however, present an object lesson, on a scale of the greatest magnificence, to demonstrate what is, by the exercise of industry, perseverance, and intelligence, a possibility at the beginning of the twentieth century…. We are living in a world whose progress toward the higher and better things in life is undisputed. The St. Louis Exposition will be the embodiment of these, far beyond any similar enterprise.
  
  Diplomatic efforts on behalf of the St. Louis World’s Fair commenced with a proclamation issued on August 20, 1901, by President William McKinley, inviting nations to take part in the Exposition. Secretary of State John Hay then issued a circular to the American diplomatic officers directing them to convey the invitation of the President to their respective governments. In July 1902 Cridler set sail for Europe. Fluent in three languages, well connected with diplomats and leaders abroad, and with eighteen overseas trips already under his belt, Cridler was well prepared to begin his mission.
  
  In a July 8, 1902, circular from Secretary of State Hay to diplomatic and consular officers of the US, Hay quoted David R. Francis, President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, who described Cridler’s duties as follows: Generally speaking, your duty and authority will be to visit the several European capitals and such other points as may be thought necessary in the exercise of your discretion, and to personally confirm with representatives of our government the invitation of the President of the United States to the government of Europe to take part in the said exposition…. Finally, you are charged to take such measures and make such arrangements with governments, individuals and representative interests, as may appear proper, wise and necessary to encourage and promote the welfare of the exposition in the foreign countries under your jurisdiction and to secure worthy participation on their part to the end that it may be distinctly the representative of its class. From July 1902 through January 1904 Cridler pursued this mission abroad with enduring patience and tenacity, and the great majority of letters and materials in the archive date from this period.
  
  Initially scheduled to open in 1903, the Exposition was postponed until 1904. This was in no small part due to the fact that foreign governments were declining to participate because they could not get ready in time. Numerous letters in the archive relate the obstacles of European participation as experienced by Cridler, particularly the tariff on foreign goods, too frequent expositions, and the high expense necessarily incurred in preparation of an exhibit without adequate compensating advantages. Still, Cridler pressed on and achieved great success, securing the participation of the European countries in his charge, including many that had officially declined to participate on multiple occasions. In January 1904, Cridler returned to America after more than eighteen months overseas as European Commissioner, and he was present for the Opening Ceremonies as the Exposition commenced on April 30, 1904.
  
  The letters and materials contained in the archive are, for the most part, in excellent condition. The papers are loosely organized by country. Cridler was exceptionally detailed and systematic in his methods of preparing, responding, and filing his communications, a trait no doubt necessary to keep track of the voluminous amount of correspondence with which he was tasked. Letters relating to the Exposition are typically labeled in the upper left corner with the subject, country of reference, as well as a progressive sequential number. Cridler has further organized the material by pinning correspondence together that relates to a specific discussion thread. In this manner one can easily follow a written conversation as it progresses over the months, even when there are multiple letter writers.
  
  Well over one hundred correspondents are found in the letters of this archive. A great multitude of diplomats and luminaries are represented by their signatures including notables such as German-born beer maker Adolphus Busch, British Ambassador Julian Pauncefote, American diplomat Henry White, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph H. Choate, Assistant Secretary of State Francis B. Loomis, Boy Scouts of America president Colin H. Livingstone, U.S. Senator Chauncey Depew, Catholic University of America Rector D. J. O’Connell, Persian antiquities collector and dealer Dikran Khan Kelekian, and theatre manager and composer Rudolph Aronson. Also represented with their signatures are many of the integral members of the Louis Purchase Exposition Company and its representatives abroad including President David R. Francis, Secretary Walter B. Stevens, Director of Exhibits Fred Skiff, Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts John Ockerson, Chief of the Art Department and founder of the St. Louis Museum of Fine Art Halsey C. Ives, Representative in London George F. Parker, Commissioner to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark Charles W. Kohlsaat, Representative in Paris Palmer L. Bowen, Representative in Berlin Joseph Brucker, Commissioner to Italy Vittorio Zeggio, and Commissioner to the Foreign Press Walter Williams.
  
  The collection contains but ten photographs including two unidentified portraits of a young child, an unidentified family outside their rustic homestead, a photograph of Lilian Cridler as a young woman adorned with the handwritten note “For Papa,” a portrait of Cridler presumably in his office where he served as Third Assistant Secretary, two group portraits of Cridler in front of a train possibly at the opening ceremonies of the St. Louis World’s Fair, and one large photo approximately 8 x 10 in., of a mosque, possibly the Hagia Sofia in Constantinople.
  
  Included within the archive are complete speeches given by Cridler to the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris (July 1903), to the International Art Association of Rome (December 1902), a speech to a gathering of Republicans from his home state of West Virginia, and a speech about his experiences in Russia given to his brothers at the DC-area Masonic Lafayette Lodge.
  
  Other unique items included within the archive are maps, pamphlets and books describing the attractions and layout of the World’s Fair, an “Americaine March” titled “Welcome to the World’s Fair in St. Louis” written by Frederic Guillaume Grell, and ledgers of correspondence to nations throughout the world.
  
  The archive is most notable, however, for its detailed accounts of the extensive diplomatic efforts exerted on behalf of the Fair. There are particularly large numbers of correspondence and other ephemera for the countries of Germany (approx. 284 documents), France (approx. 235 documents), Russia (approx. 295 documents), Austria-Hungary (approx. 250 documents) and Italy (approx. 276 documents), in addition to more than 500 documents of more general, domestic correspondence. Other countries represented in the archive with their approximate number of documents are as follows: Persia (39), Romania (13), Serbia (17), Morocco (73), Macedonia/Albania (56), Portugal (16), Spain (120), Belgium (202), Netherlands (110), South Africa/Mozambique (15), Egypt (16), Abyssinia (9), Sweden/Norway/Denmark (127), Switzerland (121), Turkey (66), Bulgaria (22), Great Britain (93), and Greece (33).
  
  The documents in the archive demonstrate that the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and its Commissioners desired to make their Exposition “universal” in greater degree than any of its predecessors. To that end they employed an aggressive campaign to secure participation from countries and colonies throughout the world. Foreign promotion of the Fair, or “exploitation” as it was called, was carried out under the supervision of a standing committee led by Chairman Adolphus Busch, the German-born co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Busch, Cridler, and members of the Exposition Company used every means at their disposal to secure not just participation in name, but ideally full participation wherein a country submitted a complement of exhibits for the Fair’s fifteen sections including Manufacturers, Art, Education, Transportation, Agriculture, Mines and Metallurgy, Liberal Arts, Social Economy, and Anthropology. With few exceptions, Cridler’s correspondence does not go into depth on the exhibits per se; rather it illustrates the extensive campaign he waged in each prospective European country.
  
  Initially Cridler sought introductions from his colleagues to their colleagues and friends in any given country. The archive contains dozens of letters of introduction in which Cridler is introduced to members of good society. He utilized American diplomats, embassies, consuls, and his personal contacts to put him in touch with the right people, the decision-makers, in places of power. He was at an advantage it seems, because he knew many of the American and foreign diplomats personally due to his extensive service in Department of State. Letters show that Cridler also lobbied the social elite, business leaders, boards of trade, chambers of commerce, and the local press.
  
  Throughout the archive there is a consistency to Cridler’s correspondence. Letters representing diverse European countries are at once similar in their portrayal of Cridler’s efforts – he arrived in a country, arranged meetings with decision-makers and presented his memorandum on why participation was a good idea for that particular country, then he followed-up repeatedly until a positive response was secured, all the while keeping St. Louis informed each step of the way. Yet each country typically offers its own unique narrative as well.
  
  Greece is notable in the archive for the large number of letters from Mrs. Carrie Jenkins Harris of North Carolina, one of the few female correspondents in the archive. Mrs. Harris was an author and editor who was politically savvy and very well connected to several high-profile political figures. Her letters demonstrate that she was more than willing to use her connections to achieve her goal of an appointment as a representative of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to the country of Greece. She was constantly imparting bits of political news and intrigue to Cridler. Perhaps as an incentive to secure Cridler’s help with her desired appointment, she wrote to Cridler in 1902 about how she could help with his political advancement and offered this advice: If you can get the influence of the Southern RR, the coal interests and the Standard Oil Co. behind you in West Va, you can certainly get the Congressional nomination, and later the Senate. Mrs. Harris also freely vented her frustration with the politicians and process delaying her appointment, prompting Cridler to respond Be more careful what you say, and still more careful what you write. This is friendly advice, offered with the best of good will.
  
  Hungary, Austria, and Serbia are unique in that letters relating to these countries are full of Cridler’s assessments of the political upheavals threatening the region in the tumultuous years leading up to World War I. Regarding the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its participation, Cridler saw clearly that Austria and Hungary though united in name and monarchy were in all other respects separate kingdoms. He knew that he must go through Hungary to secure its participation separately from Austria. On August 10th, 1903, Cridler wrote that The Political differences between the two governments are becoming serious and the Hungarians seem determined to enforce their demands. They are outspoken as to what they are and feel that they are both just and reasonable, in view of their position under the alliance between themselves and the Austrian government.
  
  Russia was a country of great personal and professional interest to Cridler. He often described his time there as being among the most difficult of his tenure but also the most rewarding. Cridler needed to be wary in Russia of how he proceeded. He remarks to Exposition Management that his telegrams would be read and kept by the government of Russia, and that censorship was rampant. In a letter to Secretary Stevens on May 3, 1903, Cridler remarked that the press of Russia is of no practical value to me. Its censorship is so rigid that it would not dare to say anything that seemed like giving advice to the Government. That is not permitted. There is no such thing here as creating a sentiment in the public mind through the press. Cridler also remained wary of individuals looking to profit either legally or illegally from their association with the Exposition. Aubrey Stanhope (brother to Russell Stanhope, Secretary of the Committee on Foreign Relations) was a businessman in Russia. In his letter to Cridler dated June 13, 1903, Stanhope said of the Russian Commissioner General to the Exposition Serge Alexandrovsky: From what I have been told he needs watching n money matters. However I suppose that what he takes will be out of the Russians and not from your people. Money it appears sticks to his hands in a remarkable way.
  
  It was not without a great deal of effort and some difficulty that Cridler undertook and completed his mission; censorship and profiteering were just some of the obstacles Cridler faced along the way. Communicating in a timely fashion proved difficult at times. Letters from Cridler to his superiors in St. Louis sometimes moved too slowly necessitating the use of a cablegram or telegraph to transfer an important message or one requiring a swift reply; there are a large number of these communications included within the archive. Often letters expressed the difficulty in simply tracking Cridler down. He had no permanent office while in Europe, and his correspondence was alternately addressed to him care of embassies, consuls, or even hotels.
  
  Funds were of concern to Cridler and particularly to some of his subordinates who sometimes found themselves expending personal money to fund Exposition business such as entertaining prominent leaders and businessmen. Letters point to an Exposition Management team that was very cautious and judicious with expenditures, as well as Exposition agents abroad that were sometimes none too happy about Management’s penny-pinching ways. This scenario prompted Charles W. Kohlsaat, Commissioner to Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, to go so far as to exclaim to Cridler in a letter dated March 7, 1903, that Exposition or no Exposition I’m through spending, or even advancing, my own paltry pittance for Exposition benefit. Finis!
  
  Most distressing to Cridler though, seems to have been a dire need for typewriting and clerical assistance and a dearth of print material related to the Fair. In many of the countries he visited he wrote of a desperate need for someone who had an American typewriter and was fluent in English so as to help him catch up on his extensive correspondence. He also wrote frequently of his great frustration with the Exposition Management for not providing World’s Fair literature in the language of the countries being visited, specifically in German, French, and Spanish. In a letter of May 6, 1903, Cridler tells businessman J. de Goeijen of Amsterdam that I am meagerly supplied with printed information or essential details, much to my regret and frequently to my embarrassment.
  
  Beyond simply highlighting the challenges faced while in the field, Cridler’s World’s Fair correspondence provides insight into the strategies used by the Exposition Management and its Commissioners to elicit positive responses from the European countries. These strategies included deliberate use of the local press to build excitement and consensus among European peoples for participation. This strategic use of the press was articulated as early as 1902 just as Cridler was arriving in Europe to begin his duties as Commissioner for Europe. An article titled “The Press at the St. Louis Exposition Dedication Ceremonies” was forwarded from Russell Stanhope, Secretary of the Foreign Relations Committee, to Cridler on August 26, 1902, and says In the extensive preparations for the Exposition at St. Louis notable recognition is given the power and influence of the press among cultivated and progressive peoples. The fundamental plan of the universal celebration…requires the support and the cooperation of journals of all classes, because these disseminate the news and spread the knowledge. The press is an instrument of universal knowledge, and its mission in a grand exposition such as that of St. Louis, is of the highest importance.
  
  Cridler understood the importance of the press quite well, and his letters show the great efforts undertaken to involve the foreign press, to use them to promote the fair, and to combat any negative publicity that appeared from time to time in the foreign papers. Throughout the archive there are newspaper clippings that Cridler saved including ones from Morocco, Russia, Germany, and the Netherlands many of which shed a unique light on how the St. Louis World’s Fair, and America itself, were perceived by the Europeans. The archive also contains a good deal of correspondence related to failed Exposition efforts to host the International Press Congress in St. Louis as a forerunner to the Fair.
  
  Another strategy employed by Cridler was the use of trade statistics relating to imports and exports. The archive contains detailed trade reports demonstrating by country how the United States had, in nearly every case, increased its imports of foreign goods. This tactic was to combat a very specific and much-repeated complaint of European nations that the McKinley and Dingley trade tariffs had hurt their economies. In a letter dated August 23, 1902, from the Louisiana Purchase Company Secretary Walter B. Stevens to Cridler, the concept is laid out: A few days ago the Treasury Department put out the annual trade review, giving the figures on imports down to the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902. Mr. Austin, the Chief, in commenting pointed out some remarkable increases in imports from other countries. The correspondence we have had with our representatives abroad shows that in certain countries a good deal is made of the argument that the United States tariff deters such countries from participating in the World’s Fair. In reply to an inquiry, Mr. Austin sends this latest report. President Francis is of the opinion that the statistics can be utilized with excellent effect by you in several European countries. Cridler did indeed use statistics to his advantage and he judiciously outlined his case for the participation of each country. Memorandum’s prepared by Cridler for the decision-making authorizes were utilized to make his major points and elucidate the overall substance of his arguments in Europe: In short, Europe has nowhere else in the world a market for her industrial products that is so rapidly increasing its consumption of her goods as the United States. No other part of the world is increasing so rapidly its population and its ability to pay for and enjoy the costliest comforts and articles of art and luxury.
  
  Yet another tactic employed with great success was to play on the longstanding intercontinental rivalries among the European nations. Letters in the archive frequently show one country inquiring as to the status of other countries: What countries are participating? And to what extent? What are they spending on their exhibits? A telegram from Exposition Representative Palmer L. Bowen in Switzerland to Cridler in Paris dated February 16, 1903, reads I need detailed information concerning action taken by European Governments, amount of subventions, and character of Exhibits for Exposition for Swiss Government, per their request. Can you furnish this in letter? The Commissioners hastened to respond to these queries from the foreign governments and undoubtedly knew that these rivalries worked to their advantage.
  
  Countries, once having accepted the invitation to participate, then vied for the best placement of their respective pavilion and exhibit sites. Among the exhibits that received consideration in Cridler’s letters are the National Pavilion of the French Republic, a fifteen-acre replica of King Louis XIV’s palace “The Grand Trianon,” and Germany’s Tyrolean Alps concession. With thoughts of exhibits also came the expected questions related to expense. Correspondents inquired of Cridler as to freight rates for transport of exhibits overseas from home countries, and then by rail to St. Louis. Countries inquired as to insurance for the exhibitors while expressing fears of potential fire and wind damage at the Exposition. Without fail, the Commissioners and Exposition Management responded to inquiries with a palpable confidence that they had accounted for every detail that would lend itself to a positive experience for the European nations. Also without fail, the Exposition Company expressed its goal to have exhibits that were grand, unique, and wonderfully representative of their home countries. In a letter of June 20, 1902, from William I. Buchanan to Exposition President David Francis, Buchanan expressed this sentiment as well as the overarching object of the exhibits – to encourage and increase visitorship by the viewing public: …and of course novelties and attractive exhibit features which will bring people within your gates are the essential things which are sought for and secured if your attendance is to be encouraged and built up. This consideration was particularly true with respect to the colonial exhibits.
  
  Energetic efforts were made to include exhibits from the colonies of the European countries, and some of the most fascinating material in this archive relates to Colonial Africa. Documents from France demonstrate the efforts made to secure an exhibit from Madagascar and the Island of Reunion. A document prepared for Adolphus Busch presented the initial concept for the Anglo-Boer War Concession which was one of the most popular attractions at the Fair. The Prospectus of The Transvaal Military Spectacular Syndicate, Limited, states that the company was formed To reproduce at the World’s Universal Exposition, St. Louis, notable battles and incidents of the war raged between the Boers an the British in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 on a grand spectacular scale, and in the most realistic manner possible. Furthermore These reproductions will be in charge of that very capable showman, Mr. Frank Fillis, whose abilities and fame are known throughout the world. Indeed, Frank Fillis, a well-known circus proprietor and artistic director, did produce the reenactments which featured a British army encampment, South African native villages, and major battles from the Second Boer War.
  
  Letters demonstrate that the exhibits from Colonial Africa were not just about providing fairgoers with a glimpse of faraway regions of the world, rather these exhibits were used to depict the inferiority of people of color and the superiority of the “civilized” Western world. In one letter written by African explorer and adventurer Richard Dorsey Loraine Mohun, he stated that his engagement with the Congo Free State (later known as Belgian Congo) was soon to expire and he did not care to return for another long term in the wilds of Africa. He writes Cridler looking for a position with the Exposition and suggested a possible exhibit: We might get a few pygmies, from the Congo. Cannibals of course would be amongst the Congo lot, as it would be impossible to bring natives from interior Africa without finding a large percentage of man eaters amongst them…. I am not proposing any dime Museum, or midway Plaisance sort of show. Make it a part of the Equatorial African Section, an integral part of the Exhibition itself. Perhaps as a result of Mohun’s suggestion, a Congolese pygmy known as Ota Benga was exhibited at the Fair along with other native Africans as part of an anthropology exhibit.
  
  Letters to and from Exposition Management, Cridler, and diplomats in Morocco demonstrate the extraordinary effort made to secure a Moorish exhibit from Morocco, while simultaneously conveying the cultural superiority displayed by the diplomats. Morocco was at this time in a state of chaos, with rebels in open revolt against the Sultan. Travel was exceedingly dangerous, particularly for Westerners, yet the hope was to visit the Sultan and personally compel him for a commitment to send an exhibit to the Fair. In a letter dated August 20, 1902, Cridler expressed his desire to secure a rare and interesting exhibit from Morocco. He recommended that engraved silver plates be prepared as gifts for their leaders because The Sultan is a young man, and, like his people, is affected by glitter and show. The Grand Vizier is really the power behind the throne, and by winning his favor a great deal is instantly accomplished. One month later in a September 29, 1902, letter to Secretary Walter B. Stevens, Cridler pressed the officers in St. Louis to accept a plan that would allow American Vice-Consul at Tangier James W. S. Langerman to undertake a dangerous journey to Fez to meet the Sultan. Cridler recalled and endorsed another diplomat’s comments regarding the propriety of sending a representative or mission to these interesting, but uncivilized, people of Africa, and as to the manner in which such representatives should go, with a proper escort and appropriate presents and gifts, in order to fully impress them. It is not possible to approach these people by methods recognized among civilized people. Ultimately, President Francis agreed to appoint Vice-Consul Langerman as Special Commissioner for the Fair to Morocco and to outfit him for a nearly 10 day journey through Morocco to meet the Sultan. Newspaper clippings as well as Langerman’s own letters in the archive describe this dangerous journey. He was provided an interpreter, armed guards for escort, tents, provisions, and the silver plates which had been engraved to His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco and another for His Excellency the Grand Vizier.
  
  Documents relating to Morocco also detail a business plan Vice-Consul Langerman conceived related to his interest in a rubber plantation in the French Congo. Langerman sent a copy of a Note in Support of Mr. Langerman’s Proposal to Cridler on August 30, 1902. This fascinating document of nearly ten pages outlined Langerman’s plan to import free African Americans from the Southern United States to French Congo to work on rubber plantations. His proposal states To employ European labour under the climatic conditions prevailing in Equatorial Africa is out of the question. Europeans can only act as supervisors or in some other administrative capacity. While native labor can be found in sufficient quantity in other Colonies, this cannot be said of the French Congo where it is of a most miserable kind. The indolence of the natives is such that even the prospect of high remuneration is unable to overcome their aversion to work. The proposal continues Must we conclude therefore, as many have done, that a portion of our Colonies is to be abandoned? No, such an idea cannot be entertained for one moment. The task of civilization, undertaken with common consent by the European nations who divided the various lands among themselves, is too great, too far advanced to allow o
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